Lois Kazakoff: Taking the ‘dys’ out of Sacramento’s dysfunction

Voters’ decision June 8 to open primaries in California by passing Prop. 14 is a step toward taking the “dys” out of Sacramento dysfunction.

Washington State took the same step in 2008 to create a “top two” primary. Political experts recognized it then as a game-changer, and the effects are beginning to be felt. The growing pool of “decline-to-state voters — now 20 percent of California’s electorate — illustrates the growing band of moderates who lack representation in Sacramento. It is hoped that opening the primaries in California and Washington will put governance back in the hands of the voters.

Here’s what Washington State Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Democrat from Seattle, wrote when he ran for office in 2009 after Washington switched to the open primary.

Somehow, as the general election approached, I felt on the doorstep (of potential voters) that the official Democratic (Party) nominee issue was over and that I was not losing votes because of the intra-party scuffle. Simply, the voter’s didn’t care and I could tell I was actually winning more votes by losing the (party) endorsement than one would have thought. Moreover, the Republicans in the district loved the entire episode and felt a sense of engagement in the race for the first time. Yes, I courted Republican votes — and hard — and they flocked to me in large part because I wasn’t the party’s blessed one. It’s something that never, ever, would have happened under the old system. That was probably the best part of it all; seeing previously disengaged voters step up and care about their role in an election and in government.